Contact-shoe-lifting apparatus for electric cars.



No. 670,375. 'Patented Mar. I9, |90I.

.l. S. MURISDN.` f

C UNTACT SHOE LIFTING APPARATUS FUR ELECTRIC CARS.

" @maximin mea Apr. 2o, moo.)

(No Ilndel.)

UNTTED STATES PATENT Trice.

JOSEPH S. MORISONLOF RICHMOND HILL, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN F. BJURLUND, OF BOROUGH OF QUEENS, NEV YORK, N. Y.

CONTACT-SHOE-LIFTING APPARATUS FOR ELECTRIC CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 670,37 5, dated March 19, 1901.

n Application filed April 20, 1900. Serial No. 13,580. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH S. MoRIsON, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Richmond Hill, borough ofQueens,

city andState of New York, have invented `certain new and useful Improvements in Oontact-Shoe-Lifting Apparatus for Electric Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of improved means 1o lfor lifting the contact-shoes used on electric cars for making electrical connection with the conducting rail or rails, which is frequently required for various reasons, said apparatus being represented in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a plan view of an inverted electic car having my improved shoe-lifting apparatus, applied. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of said car. Fig. 3 is a detail of the lifting apzo paratus, partly in side and partly in sectional elevation and enlarged for greater clearness.

Fig. 4 is a detail in plan view showing a modiication of some of the parts. Fig. 5 is'a side elevation of the devices represented in Fig. 4.

The contact-shoes are represented at o,

Figs. 2 and 3. Theyare to be understood as of the usual form and construction and to have' the usual electric Wire connections for transmitting the electric current, which it is not 3o necessary to show or describe in this application, which relates only to means for lifting the shoes above the conducting rail or rails Whenever it may be desired to do so for any purpose. For enabling the shoes to be so lifted they must in some form orother be suspended by supports of some kind adapted t0 be shifted up and down, which supports may be arranged invarious ways. The arrangement herein shown and which may or 4o not be best adaptedl for practical use consists of a vertical stock b for each shoe carried in a slideway c, supported on any suitable standard d, to the lower end of which stock the shoe is connected in any approved way with some sort of interposed insulator e. -The stock b is provided with a head e', which has intersecting slots in transverse planes, one

- of which is seen atf in the side view and is traversed by a pin g,carried in a lever h, trav- 5o ersing the other slot and located in said lever near its free end, said slots being adapted for the head of the stock to have free play verlically to a limited extent for allowing the Vshoe freedom to rise and fall, as inequalities 'in the bearing-surface of the rails may de- 55 mand. Thel lever h is rigidly attached to a rock-shaft t', extending from side to side of the truck in suitable supporting-bearings and carrying a lever 72, at each end for operating a shoe on each side, and such shoes and lift-l 6o ing apparatus are carried on each truck.

In Figs. l, 2, and 3 the' rock-shafts are represented with two upright rigid arms j, in the upper ends of which a curved bar k is pivoted at its ends, with the projecting side toward the middle of the car. A connectingrod Z, having a forked end m, is connected to this bar by a pin n, on which is a frictionroller between the members of the fork,where by the bar lo can traverse the fork freely, as 7o the truck on which the rock-shaft is carried vibrates on its vertical axis, lateral movement of the connecting-rod being prevented by a staple or other equivalent device o, pendent from the car-body.

A lever p is pivoted at q to the center of the car-body, said lever ranging transversely to the car-body in a horizontal plane, and at equidistant points from and on opposite sides of this pivot q, respectively, the respective rods 8o Z,control1ing the shoes of the respective trucks, are pivoted, this connection being made so that all the shoes may be raised by one movement of a hand-lever, and for eifecting this operation from either end of the car a handlever s, thereon pivoted at t, is connected t0 each end of lever p, respectively, and in order that when raising the shoes from one end of the car the lever s of the other end of the car may not be shifted out of its normal position. 9o Such-connections are made by a rod t with a short length of chain u next to lever p, by which the thrust that would be made on the lever s (not used) .if the entire connection were made by rod t is avoided.

Instead of the curved bar lo, attached at each end to arms j, au equivalent device, consisting of the slotted curved bar o, having an arm w, jointed to a single arm j, on the rockshaft z', may be used.

What I clainl as my invention isl. In an electric car receiving the electric IOO current by the third-rail system, the combination with the contact shoe or shoes, of a support or supports therefor adapted t0 be raised to break contact With the conducting rail or rails and means connecting said support or supports with a handdever in the control of the operator on the platform for so raising1 them, said means comprising` a rock-shaft suitably connected with the hand-lever7 and having an arm for each shoe-support and connected with a head thereof having` intersecting slots in transverse planes, one of which is traversed by said arm and the other by a pin carried in the extremity of said arm to have free play relatively thereto to a limited extent, to accommodate it to the inequalities of the conducting-rail.

2. In an electric ear receiving the electric current by the third-rail system, the combination with the Contact shoe or shoes,of a superal traverse of it relatively to said rod, and

means connecting said operating-lever with a hand-leverin the control of the operatoron the platform.

Signed by me at New York, N'. Y., this 7th day of April, 1900.

JOSEPH S. MORISON, Witnesses:

C. SEDGWIOK, J. HOWARD. 

